Crackdown on Oscar campaigns

July 8 2003

Cameron Diaz, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of Gangs of New York.

The Academy is laying down the law on members who break its rules, reports Duncan Campbell.

On the day the latest Terminator film opened in Hollywood, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences threatened to use its ultimate weapon against members who break the rules in this year's Oscar competition: miscreants will be expelled and their films disqualified.

This year's Oscars were notable for a row about the way Miramax tried to persuade academy members to vote for Gangs of New York and Martin Scorsese as best film and best director.

An advertisment containing an article supposedly written by the director and former academy president Robert Wise endorsed the film and called for votes. Since voting intentions are meant to be secret, this was judged unethical. The new rule says: "Any form of advertising that includes quotes or comments by academy members is prohibited." If the rules are broken, the academy says, it may disqualify a film from eligibility.

The decision affects anyone judged to have broken "the letter or spirit" of the rules.

"The general consensus is that this (campaigning) has been spinning out of control," the academy president, Frank Pierson, told Daily Variety.");document.write("

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"Academy members know you can't buy a vote, but the public perception is growing that voters are influenced by campaigning . . . We wanted more clear and emphatic rules to make it more clear and emphatic what the penalties will be."